Good Evening, So I am thinking about my first of 2 solo's next weekend. When I ask, "What should I do on my first solo, I have consistently received the response of, "Whatever you want, have fun". My response to that was, "You mean within the confines of what I have been taught". The final response response was with a heck of a grin, "Nope, the sky is yours for 60 seconds"...

Some would call me consertative. I call myself chicken. Bok Bok...

Does anyone else have any suggestions for some diveflows for me?

I have been enjoying spinning in freefall. Im getting ok at stopping it within a few degrees although not pretty yet. I want to learn more about referencing the horizon rather then someone next to me. Texas is flat. Our reference points are old Tommy's pond over there. Or my name on that tree wth some random girls name right over there.

I also want to experiment more with canapy and the handling characteristics(sp?) as such. Yellow/Red toggle turns, light to extreme front and rear riser input. I want to start experimenting with harness input so I need to figure out how to get my leg straps lower on my legs once under canopoy to be able to try it. Id like to figure out how to deliberately generate a line twist or two on opening so as to train myself to respond to it when expected rather than react to it when unexpected.

I want to nail my pattern. I usually fly perfect approaches during VFR and IFR cycles behind a prop at known airports most days. I expect a lot from myself in this field. This translates to, I want to experiment with different ways to enter and work the pattern. Practice looking at different points along the way over my shoulder at 45 and 90 degrees. Maybe I want to enter a short upwind to enter the pattern. I don't know. It just feels like I am not performing to my immediate potential and feel confined to the guy on the radio saying start your base leg. My response to what was a gradual 180 degree turn rather then two 90's. Why? Because the caravan was on short final on an opposite course from me at the start of my base turn and abreast of me midway thru my final with me parallel to the runway. I choose to hook my base and final legs together to reduce the risk of overshooting my base to final turn and stay the heck away from an active runway. One suggestion I got today was to extend my base to the opposite side of the runway where there are plenty of cones to aim for and plenty of area to land on. At the time I decided the right choice was to pretty much transistion from downwind to final in one contiuous arc. Seemed to work out for me. But what am I missing? I landed about 100 feet from another jumper who landed a moment before me completing her final SDU jump. If I landed in that proximity to her, would you call that a win? Im assuming she landed where she wanted to here.

Anyway, long post short. Who can hit me with a sample dive flow that is meaningful but not too much. Im assuming I should not plummet to earth head down at 200mph on my first solo dive. But if I should, by all means, say so., Thanks all!

Re: [Flounder] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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I just got my A lic (so my advise should be taken lightly), but I understand your delima, and offer no advise except my experience). After AFF 7 i concentrated on belly flying. I watched countless tutorial videos referencing how to freely, and around jump 18 concentrated on back fly techniques. But ultimately you have to have a stable belly fly and pilot chute deployment to be successful at this sport. Even though "the sky is yours" be cognizant of others air space, and dont cash checks your body cant handle. My first few jumps solo were spent belly to earth, enjoying the horizon from a stable position. I always remind myself, Im jumping out of a plane, be safe, have fun, and dont exceed your mental ability to handle emergency situations.

Re: [Flounder] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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Here goes:

Exit stable, the way you were taught. Take a deep breath, smile. Pick your point on the horizon. Turn 90 right, keep eye contact with ref point. Alti Turn 180 left, now facin the other way to the ref point. Keep that point. Alti. Now repeat, but do 360. Now you have your reference point on the side of you and not in front, and turning away from it.

Jump 2: Exit unstable. Roll out the door into a backflip or something silly. Get stable, now do jump 1 again. You will just prove to yourself you can go hectic, and recover from it, and still keep things intack.

Keep to your limits for now.

As for flying VFR, this is V only. No instruments, no speed instruments blah blah. Go land on the Landing zone. Take in as much as you can via reference points. Later on you can try and do things a little better. Get your eyes dialed in first.

Something to do as well, check the ground, check the alti, repeat. It will give you perspective on how high you are, and is vital for any skydiver.

Re: [Flounder] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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One idea with skydiving, especially for new jumpers, is that it's a good idea to only add one new thing per jump. This way, you allow yourself the ability to concentrate on the 'new thing', and you help to the limit the possibility of getting caught off guard by more than one 'surprise' that sometimes comes with new things.

So maybe on your first solo, just repeat an easy jump. Have you ever demostrated a stable, on-heading exit, followed by alternating left and right 360 degree turns, with good altitude awareness and a stable, on-time pull, all on a solo jump? It sounds like a simple proposition, but it's something you couldn't even imagine doing 5 jumps ago.

Let's remember, you still have to think about all the other facets of your jump. The gear, the ride to altitude, gear checks, the climb out, the deployment, possible malfunctions and the canopy ride/landing, in addition to your freefall, so maybe keep the freefall simple, within your wheelhouse, and let the 'solo' be the new thing.

In terms of your canopy control, that's one of those things you'll work on every jump for the rest of your life. If you want to practice manuvers, do them high enough to cutaway if you should create a malfunction. Be sure to check for trafiic before and after each manuver, and keep an eye on your spot. The wind is blowing you around the whole time you're under canopy, including during turns, so just make sure you're always close enough to the DZ to make it to the pattern entry point.

Re: [davelepka] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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Thanks all for the feedback. Let me just note that I am not trying to learn how to skydive on the internet. My instructors are fantastic. I'm really trying to develop intelligent questions from the internet, I'll get my final answers from someone I can look in the eye. :-)

The height at flare is just something I have to figure out. I'm only dropping a foot or two so I don't have that far to go. I'm gonna sign up for a canopy control course in March I think it is. Ill just do my best until then. :-)

Re: [Flounder] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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In reply to:

My instructors are fantastic. I'm really trying to develop intelligent questions from the internet, I'll get my final answers from someone I can look in the eye. :-)

I believe you are well on the way to becoming a good safe skydiver, that sentence above is a good one to go by. There is alot of information here but as you said its best to refer to someone you personally know.

I also agree that its best to try one new thing at a time, ive made the mistake of trying to do it all at once and while nothing bad happened i didnt learn as much as i could have if i just focused on one thing. After all 55-60 sec isnt all that long to try something new :) ok ok maybe one new in free fall and one under canopy

Re: [Flounder] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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One type of dive you can do is where you do nothing in freefall ... except feel the air.

Often as a student you are doing maneuver after maneuver with little time between. I'm not suggesting you just sightsee for 60 seconds. Maybe you've already had time to just relax in freefall but if you've been too busy with maneuvers, you could try this relax dive.

Just get out, relax, feel the air, think about every part of your body position, move your arms and legs and back a little to make sure you are aware of their positions and effect of moving them. So you might do tiny little turns while doing that. Of course you'll still do alti checks.

If you're feeling constrained with the radio under canopy, talk to the instructors to see if you can be more in charge, making the decisions, with the radio just there for tips and backup if they see you getting too far off of a good flightpath.

Re: [shane.woodrum] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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My float float and dive out exit I've been told are pretty stable. Or getting there anyway. The starter exit (not sure what its called) is kinda tough and always will be. It's difficult for me to get my weight over my knees like that for more than a second or two and I almost collapse out the door. Poor muscle tone in my quads I guess.

I graduated AFF yesterday on the last load of the day. Didn't get to solo. Today either. Mother Nature and her winds are a pain in the rear.

Re: [skyjumpenfool] Making the transision from student to solo. The Saga continues...
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you dont need to listen to anything i say because i dont have much experience, but i can say one thing - since you mentioned wanting to really get into the pattern under canopy and learn to fly your shit, (and im not trying to jump the gun too far ahead of time for you but im going to..........) DEFINITELY invest in some basic canopy courses after you get your license. i thought that after 100 jumps i was a good canopy pilot simply because i was jumping in hawaii and the winds/obstacles were enough to help a newbie jumper get dialed in. and they were to a tiny extent, but holy FUCK i took a canopy course last october, and just about 2 weeks ago and both have flipped my canopy flight world upside down into the right direction. its amazing how much you will pick up. i have become a MASSIVE advocate of continuous canopy courses/coaching (especially if you have talent at your DZ and they like you) anyways have fun in the meantime and good luck.